Chapter 81: Reaping the Rewards (Patreon)

Party leader [Lucas Hudson, Class: Blood Reaver, Level 39] has invited you to join the party.

[Party member, Tim Callow, Class: Archer, Level: 25, has joined]

[Party member, Bruce Miller, Class: Battle Axe Man, Level: 23, has joined]

[Party member, Serena Davis, Class: Magus, Level: 24, has joined]

Our new party members were all at good levels, so I didn’t have to worry about them falling behind. The others probably would’ve realized this too, but they were too busy staring at my level. At first, I thought I’d misread it, but the number was the same. Thirty-nine. I guess with everything that had happened; I hadn’t had a chance to check my stats. The number seemed hard to comprehend.

“How did you…” started Elise.

I thought for a second. “Well, there was the first zombie and then dozens more after that. Somewhere along the way, I lost count. Plus, they were growing stronger over time.”

“Why didn’t we go down there?” complained Hemi.

“If you had, you would’ve died,” I replied.

“Hey! We’re not that weak.”

“It’s the truth. While my buff was active, I still had access to my touch based healing. That was what kept me alive long enough to kill so many of them. But once I was overwhelmed, and they piled on top of me, I wasn’t able to keep killing. The buff went away and so did the touch healing.” I shook my head. “Lesson learned. Always test the stuff that gods give you.”

The others didn’t know what to say to that. I’d gained thirteen levels in one fight. An almost impossible feat if not for my rapid healing ability. It was an insane risk, but it had paid off massively. Now there was a very good chance that I was the highest leveled resident in the tower. Martin and Anders will never know what hit them.

I turned away from the others and went to pull up my stat page next. It would’ve been incredibly embarrassing if I’d died now from an unseen ranged attack as a level 39 with the stats of a 26’er because I was too slow to spend my points.

Stats

Name: Lucas Hudson

Race: Human (Class F)

Class: Blood Reaver Level 39

Currency: 3889 coins

Strength: 265

Vitality: 250

Intelligence: 20

Constitution: 270

Dexterity: 588

Perception: 377

Willpower: 17

Free points remaining: 2970

My eyes widened at the numbers. I had nearly four thousand coins and nearly three thousand stat points to allocate. Putting those points to use wouldn’t just put me on another planet compared to the other tower residents. It would be another galaxy. I stared at the numbers. They were almost unbelievable until I remembered how quickly a lot of the zombies were leveling up over time. A lot of the ones I’d killed were in the high 30’s and low 40’s range and I killed so many of them that I lost track.

Excited, I sat down and thought about how best to allocate the points. My first urge was to just allocate them equally and level everything. I discarded the thought right away. Eventually, I’d run into something the same level as me and without specialization, I’d be kinda good at everything but great at nothing, which wasn’t an option.

First, I put three hundred points into perception and received a new notification.

*DING!* You have gained [Weak Blood Magnetism (Rare)] – Due to your new level of perception, you have unlocked a new ability related to your Class. Now any enemy blood you spill can be drawn to your body if they’re within sufficient range. This ability rapidly consumes stamina, but now you can feel a connection to the blood you’ve earned without making direct contact.

That sounded amazing. Now blood healing would be even easier than before.

To test it out, I pulled a bleeding zombie corpse out of my inventory and dumped it on the floor. The others watched with confusion but said nothing as I walked fifteen paces back and activated the Weak Blood Magnetism.

Nothing happened.

I took a few steps closer and tried the ability again, but got the same result. I repeated the actions until I’d gotten within five feet of the body. Suddenly, a tangible connection to the blood formed. I pulled on that connection, and the blood flew out of the zombie's body in a steady stream towards my hand.

So five feet is the limit, though with the ability being labelled as weak, I’m willing to bet there are stronger versions out there that will allow me to increase the range.

Still, I was pleased. Making contact with the blood during fights was now exponentially easier with this new ability.

I went back to my stats and considered what to upgrade next. In some ways, the less important stats were easier to think about and so I put three hundred points into vitality.

*DING!* You have gained [Scourge Resistance (Rare)] – Due to your recent exposure to undead infections and your new vitality level, you’ve unlocked a new passive ability that massively increases your resistance to poisons, noxious gases, and other infections.

Okay, good to know. Although there was no real way to test this one out right now unless I pester Damian to make one of his poison traps, or I cut myself with my Viper Fang knife. A knife which I hadn’t found yet because some zombie somewhere was still sitting on it.

Moving on, I put six hundred points into constitution. I figured it was important to keep my stamina relatively high since I relied on it to maintain my speed.

*DING!* You have gained [Iron Lungs (Uncommon)] – You’ve unlocked a new passive ability that upgrades your respiratory system. Your lungs, airways, and blood vessels have been upgraded to carry oxygen more efficiently through your body, leading to a greater athletic capacity.

I took a deep breath and held it. A few minutes passed without needing to breathe. I stopped after five minutes, more out of impatience than anything else. It felt like my ability to hold my breath had just been tripled. I could probably break the world record for breath holding now.

What else can it do for me?

“Don’t be alarmed,” I told the others. “I’m just going for a short run to test something.”

The rest of them said nothing as I sprinted down main street. I went all out and as the wind rushed by, I realized that my lungs weren’t being taxed at all.

I stopped running before I’d left town completely and doubled back to the others.

An all-out sprint with no shortness of breath yet. I wonder how far I could run now before my body started to feel it?

Going back to finish with my stats, I put the remaining points equally into strength and dexterity. Sometimes in a confined space, speed wasn’t as helpful if something stronger got a hold of me. Dexterity was still my main stat, but I needed to keep my strength up to a good level as well.

*DING!* You have gained [Sword Air Slash (Rare)] – Due to a unique combination of your strength, dexterity, and sword skills, you have unlocked the Air Slash attack. Strike through the air with your sword and a devastating blow will fly out of your blade and travel across the room to hit targets at a distance. (Note: this ability is limited to the use of swords only).

Excited, I reached back for my sword, only to remember that I’d lost it in the fighting.

Annoyed, I started throwing zombies aside to look for it.

“What are you doing?” asked Hugo.

“Trying to find my sword,” I replied, not looking up. It had to be around here somewhere.

As the new members of the party, the other survivors became eager to impress and helped me look for it first before the others joined in.

“Found it,” said Damian, who likely only started looking to help move things along.

He handed me my katana, and I turned to face a two story building that had half burned down. I was about thirty feet away from it and with both hands; I sliced through the air and activated Air Slash. A white crescent line shot out of my blade and slammed into the building, cutting through burned-out remains. The remaining foundation was cut in half and the building collapsed.

“Holy shit!” Hemi said.

I smiled and sheathed my sword. Yes, this will do very nicely for the upcoming fight.

Stats

Name: Lucas Hudson

Race: Human (Class F)

Class: Blood Reaver Level 39

Currency: 3889 coins

Strength: 1150

Vitality: 550

Intelligence: 20

Constitution: 870

Dexterity: 1473

Perception: 677

Willpower: 17

Free points remaining: 0

Hmm, eventually I’ll probably throw some pity points into willpower and intelligence when things are safer. Right now though, it was best to lean into my strengths.

I returned to the group and said, “I’m done leveling up.”

Some of them nodded or gave some kind of verbal affirmative, but nobody said more than that. They were all standing there looking at me, and it took a moment before I realized that they were waiting for me to tell them what to do next. I’d called it a partnership and an equal party, but they all looked to me to lead them.

I didn’t want to be a leader. Didn’t think I’d be a good one, but they were counting on me. I had to step up. I cleared my throat and addressed the group.

“First, we recover my knife. It’s a razor sharp green kunai that’s poisoned, so watch where you put your hands. Then, we comb through the town to recover any survivors or injured residents. We ask them to join us, but if they don’t, we throw them a health potion and then move on.”

Everyone instantly agreed with the plan without argument, which terrified me because it meant that this leadership position might not be a one time thing.